Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System-Chapter 46: The Self-Cultivation of an Extra
Li Younan didn’t forget to call his mom. In the years when he was with Yang Ting, his contact frequency with his mom had noticeably decreased. Only by looking back did he realize that the one who had genuinely been waiting for him all along was only his mother.
After entering society, Li Younan never again encountered someone like his mother, who talked just to chat, with only laughter and joy without blame, lecturing, or forced opinions.
Chatting with his mom was really relaxing.
Li Younan lay on the bed, sharing his experiences as an extra in Hengdian with his mom. He mentioned how he was a stand-in for the male lead and acted opposite a very dedicated leading actress. Although it was just a brief scene, in his mom’s eyes, it was as if her son had already become a big star.
After hanging up the call, Li Younan didn’t forget the next day’s arrangements. After all, this time the task was to experience three different extra roles in one day.
According to Xie Lin’s categorization, extras are divided into three types: special extras, featured extras, and the most ordinary background extras. But what does the stand-in role he played count as? Li Younan checked the progress and found that the system had classified today’s actor category as a special extra.
This was quite good because special extras are obviously the ones with the highest threshold. Normally, this requires an acting interview. Special extras have lines, performances, and may even act with the main characters.
For instance, a wrongly accused woman in one episode; or a doctor telling the female lead about her terminal illness. They don’t have much screen time, only a few minutes in an episode, but without acting skills, they can immediately break the audience’s immersion.
Following the normal process, it would be hard for Li Younan to qualify as a special extra, since he only has looks and no acting skills. But this time, by a twist of fate, he completed the special extra task, making the next featured extras and background extras much simpler.
Li Younan was lucky and found work the next day, again through a connection from Xie Lin. Actually, taking background extra roles isn’t hard, but many professional background extras often need at least a day of rest after working a day, because the schedule is just too exhausting.
When helping Li Younan find work, Xie Lin actually found several options for him. Three of them were featured extras, but Li Younan chose the lowest level background extra role.
Xie Lin was puzzled, "Dude, if you want to experience it, you should try a featured extra! Plus, today’s background extra work is a lot tougher, you’ll see by tonight."
The role Li Younan took the next day was in a modern drama, which was good news because it meant he didn’t need to wear other costumes. The outfit he wore as the stand-in today was new since he represented the lead character, which was considered lucky. Ordinary background extras even can’t be sure if the previous person had athlete’s foot.
But the schedule for the next day was even tighter than the first day. He had to be on set by 4 AM before the stars disappeared. Li Younan cautiously drove to the shoot location.
Today, Xie Lin didn’t have to wake up so early. He hadn’t gotten home until two or three in the morning the night before. Continuous late nights would take a toll on the body, so he probably just fell asleep.
Just like yesterday, Li Younan constantly recorded his life on his phone. Today, he specifically brought his camera because the character he played today wasn’t restricted, just acting as a tourist walking around, carrying a camera seemed very reasonable.
It was still very dark at the time.
In this corner of Hengdian, a few huge floodlights hung in mid-air, beams of light forcefully penetrating the thin night fog, shining on a street scene artificially constructed, making it appear like an illusory daytime—so white it was bluish, and piercingly bright.
Under the lights, shadows stood out clearly and appeared particularly weary.
Li Younan stood there, looking at a certain film crew which must have been shooting through the night, at the edge of the scene, a makeshift shed was standing.
Stacks of packed lunch boxes piled up like a mountain, oil stains silently soaking through the boxes, emitting a unique overnight smell, a mix of greasy and slightly sour stuffiness.
Several extras wearing drab clothes lounged on plastic stools in corners napping, among them, a gray-haired old extra, his head bobbing like a woodpecker, seemingly about to fall into a deep slumber at any moment, yet the faded Republic era long gown stubbornly tethered him between the role and the exhausting reality.
Li Younan suddenly thought of Xie Lin, a complex thought popped into his mind, many years later, could Xie Lin become like him?
He took out his phone, capturing that image of the old extra. He opened the camera preview, anyone seeing this picture would be touched. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
The next day officially began, longer than the first day.
Before dawn it was still hot, the group leader handed out plastic stools. Once the sun rose, sitting on them became quite the hot seat. The assistant director shouted hoarsely, sweating profusely, directing people where to stand. Li Younan looked around, everyone appeared like withered vegetables being poked.
Most of the time was still spent waiting for scenes, sweat sticking on eyelids, constantly needing to be wiped. When shooting started, he walked back and forth repeating under the scorching sun, pretending to chat, his throat felt parched.
Unlike yesterday’s spotlight, today nobody looked at him; he was just a moving backdrop.
The lunchbox at midday had a slight sour taste. Li Younan didn’t eat it, since he was just there for the experience, no need to make himself uncomfortable, so he bought a pancake from a nearby vendor and squatted under a tree to wolf it down.
In the afternoon they changed locations again, still waiting, the rumble of machines mixed with staff cursing blended with cicadas’ cries, making his head buzz.
At dusk, the shoot finally wrapped up.
The pay was settled on the spot for convenience, given in cash, only 100 yuan. After deducting the money for the pancake, he effectively earned only 90 yuan today.
It wasn’t as pleasurable as the first day; today was pure experience, but he liked today’s experience too.
Though it was a tough day, this wasn’t his life after all, he was merely coldly observing from an objective perspective. Without this journey, he probably wouldn’t understand how these people live for his entire life.
When finishing up for the day, Xie Lin especially came to pick him up, somewhat incredulously asking, "How was it? Was it really grueling? I told you, this shoot wasn’t going to be easy, but you wouldn’t listen."
It seemed, in Xie Lin’s understanding, that Li Younan shouldn’t be able to endure such hardship.
Li Younan chuckled lightly, indeed he didn’t need to endure such hardship. He suddenly asked, "By the way, Xie Lin, what do you plan to do in the future?"
Xie Lin was momentarily stunned.
Then, Li Younan realized he underestimated Xie Lin.
Xie Lin replied with a beaming smile, "I can’t be running extra roles all my life. Now both Juhong and I are saving money; in about two or three years, we should have enough. By then, I’ll take her back home to get married, and we’ll rent a storefront, opening a breakfast shop or a barbecue stand."
Xie Lin sheepishly chuckled, "Isn’t that pretty unambitious?"
Li Younan said with his head down, "Not at all. Breakfast shops and barbecue stands are quite profitable, you have a very well thought out plan."
Xie Lin laughed with a "Hehe", "I’ve been planning this for seven or eight years now."
Suddenly, Li Younan recalled the middle school version of Xie Lin, who would’ve thought that the clown from back then would have matured so much now.
It had been a very tiring day, and after grabbing a meal at Xie Lin’s place, Li Younan went straight back to the hotel to rest.
Currently, both background extras and special extras’ progress was complete, he only needed to finish the featured extra task to complete his objective.
When Xie Lin learned that Li Younan intended to continue as an extra for another day, he was stunned. With a strange look, he asked, "Aren’t you planning to settle down here?"
Without much explanation, Li Younan just said, "Today is the last day, I want to be a featured extra once more, it’s quite fun."
Thinking for a moment, Xie Lin responded, "Coincidentally, the crew you were with the day before still needs featured extras today, why not go to that crew again."
Considering the suggestion, Li Younan gladly agreed.
